>> from pacifica, this is democracy now! this is the free speech issue of our time. we cannot allow the sec to implement a pay to play system. the silences armed forces and amplifies that of big corporate interests. we have come to a crossroads. as the fcc votes to allow

broadband provider to charge companies for faster delivery of their content we speak with senator al franken on the neutrality. credit squeeze and its subsidiaries engage in an extensive and wide-ranging -- the bankolding actively helped its account holders to deceive the virus by concealing assets and income in illegal, undeclared bank accounts. rosee bank stock price after the settlement and the chair of the bank's board says credit suisse is as white as snow. why no senior executives have gone to jail, occupy wall street protesters have been sentenced to 90 days in prison. we will look at who goes to jail and who does not. and the data pirates of the caribbean. did you know the nsa is working

with the drug enforcement agency to record every phone call in the bahamas? and we remember civil rights pioneer vincent harding. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. thailand's military has imposed martial law. protesters have blocked elections and cause for the ouster of a caretaker government. soldiers have blocked off streets in the capital of bangkok and 10 tv stations have in order to shut down. the army has denied its efforts constitute a coup. the obama administration has announced claims against china for economic espionage. attorney general eric holder accuse the officers of stealing trade secrets to benefit state owned companies.

all nations are engaged intelligence gathering. what establishes this case is that we have a state-sponsored entity, spirit -- state-sponsored individuals using intelligence tools to gain commercial advantage. that is what makes this case different. >> china has announced the indictment and has summoned max baucus. the charges came as a new report by the interceptor revealed the united states is secretly recording virtually every cell phone call in the bahamas. we will speak with the report's in the broadcast. a man has been convicted of terrorism charges by a new york jury, accused of aiding kidnappers in yemen and setting up a military training camp in oregon although his attorneys

that much of it was based on things that he heard in a sermon. prisoner suffers from a medical condition that he fears could cause a painful death. his lawyers have appealed his 01 ontion set for 12: wednesday. it would be the first since the botched killing in oklahoma. credit squeeze has pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and agreed to pay 2.6 billion dollars for its role in helping u.s. clients avoid taxes by concealing assets and undeclared bank accounts. it is the largest thing to plead guilty to the charges in the u.s. in 20 years. moronically deal later in the broadcast. jill abramson has delivered the

keynote address at the wake forest university days after she was fired from the new york times. she was the first woman at the post and reportedly complained about making less than her male predecessors. >> the senators portray her as being one of her detractors so delicately put it a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty. she turned that potential humiliation into a great career teaching at brandeis university and writing books that tell to to power. anita was one of the many people who wrote me last week to say they are probably. those messages are so appreciated. >> in another commencement address in oregon, a speaker

announced the school decision to join a growing movement by divesting from fossil fuels. pleased to learn that the board of trustees have decided to divest the school's $500 million endowment [inaudible] [applause] what they are doing with the money is what is most interesting. they are pulling the money from those industries and reinvesting it in community owned or noble energy projects. >> the announcement received a standing ovation. the only catch is that reed college has not actually divested from fossil fuels. the speaker, also known as mike a prank.s part of

statement, reed college said its trustees are reviewing the students call for divestment. haspy wall street activist been sentenced to 90 days in jail in five-year provision for elbowing a police officer during her arrest at a protest. she claimed she struggled instinctively when her breast -- was grabbed from behind. more than 12 jurors asked that she not be given as an time. marriagectories for equality a federal judge has ordered you talk to recognize more than 1000 unions that occurred before a stay was issued by the state spring court while another judge has struck down oregon same-sex ban on same-sex marriage. knotes began tying the almost immediately after the ruling. historian author and civil vincent harding

died at the age of 92. he cowrote the famous antiwar address "beyond vietnam." vincent talked about king's vision. in the last years of his life, he said america had to deal with what he called triple , the, the evil of racism evil of materialism, and the evil of militarism, and he saw those three very much connected to each other. that was vincent harding. he died yesterday. headlines,ome of the this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> i am aaron mate. we begin with major developments that could shape the media landscape for years to come. ast year the fcc advanced

proposal that critics say threatens net neutrality, the concept of a free and open internet. the rules could allow fast lanes where companies pay providers for faster access to consumers. that sparked a wave of protest from opponents who say the rules and too much power to the major companies who can afford to shell out. consolidating their control at the expense of small competitors and consumers monthly bills. similar concerns have been raised about a merger deal struck over the weekend. at&t has agreed to buy satellite provider directv in a nearly $50 billion deal. the move comes months after comcast announced plans to merge with time warner cable. the leadingo one of voices on capitol hill challenging media consolidation, democratic senator al franken. he serves on the antitrust competition and consumer rights committee of the senate judiciary. he joins us from capitol hill. welcome to democracy now!

your response to the latest decision by the fcc? >> very unhappy with the vote. tom wheeler, the chair of the fcc, it had been leaked out a couple weeks prior to this that he was open to a fast lane, --ning the in texas antithesis of net neutrality. that neutrality has been architecture of the internet from the beginning. what it means is it treats all digital content, all content outcomes across the internet to you, the consumer, through the internet service providers, it is all treated equally, neutrally. that has led to all this innovation that we have had over these years on the internet. what chairman of wheeler is talking about is allowing a fast lane, and it would be deep

pocketed corporations that would be able to buy this. information would come to viewers from big corporations this,, consumers, and really, would hurt innovation. it has freedom of speech issues. let me give you just an example of why this information traveling the same has led to innovation. years ago, there was this thing called google video. it was not very good and the guys who created youtube did it over a pizzeria in san mateo, california. it was a better product. it all caps on the same speed as the google product and people got to see it. they sampled it and they liked it better, so we have youtube. in the same way, we have had all

this explosion of innovation over the internet because of net neutrality. in the same way, this threatens democracy, something i know you are interested in, and because right now your show travels as , travels asnews fast as the new york times, someone blogging right now not -- theyhat i am saying can do that and get it up as fast as any other piece of information. forou have a fast lane corporate news, corporate ,nformation, corporate content that threatens our very democracy. wheeler -- fccm tom wheeler has denied he is abandoning net neutrality. the idea of net

neutrality may feel like a celebration is in order. >> reports that we are gutting the open internet are incorrect. i am here to say to you, wait a minute, put away the party hats. the open internet rules will be enforceable, and with the concurrence of my colleagues, will be in effect with dispatch. wheeleris fcc chair tom speaking at the cable industry's largest trade show. he is a former cable industry lobbyist. according to the proposal, these content deals could be done if they were commercially reasonable. what do you understand that to mean and do you trust the sec's

vow that they will review these cases individually? >> one, i do not know what that means, so that's a problem. fcc's do not trust the ability to do this. they could do something very simple, they could categorize the internet as a telecommunications service, would give it the authority to enforce net neutrality and that would be as simple as that. they could just do that. there was a lot of pushback over the last several weeks is when it was first leaked, they talked about a fast lane. i do not see how you can do a fast lane and not undermine the whole concept of net neutrality. i do not see it. there will be a comment period now, so maybe we will learn more about what he means. , didcontent, by the way

seem to travel very slowly. senator franken, michael ,owell is now head of the ncta the cable industry's largest lobbying group. he is targeting net neutrality. tom wheeler, who was president obama's nominee, was the head of this cable lobby. was expected, do you think president obama should now fire tom wheeler? he is the one who appointed him. i believe the president made a pledge before he became president to keep it in place. i think he should honor that. powell was the one who categorized, in 2002, when he he categorized the internet as an information

service. all we need to do is change it to a telecommunications service and that gives the fcc every authority it needs to protect net neutrality. as you can see, this is a sort of revolving door, which is kind of disturbing. >> they switched places but seem to be doing the same job. in the senate, who are your allies, and how does something like this get done, to because of it as a utility -- reclassify it as a utility? >> he did open that up to discussion in this new culinary rule. again, there was kind of pushback from what he got several weeks ago when it leaked out that he was talking about a fast lane. he has the authority to do it. the fcc has the authority to say this is a telecommunications

service, which it is, a common carrier, which gives it the authority to enforce net neutrality. that is what he should be doing. senator franken, the amount of money going into these megadeals is staggering. $45 billion between time warner and comcast, $40 billion with at&t and directv. are you afraid that we are creating this business model where companies are buying each other up instead of spending to innovate? >> that has occurred to me. during the latest comcast hearing where they talk about acquiring time warner cable, they said that this deal would spur a lot of what you are talking about, investment in technologies, etc..

the first thing out of the gate is just another big telecommunications giant buying a big delivery system, the second-largest pay-tv system we have. so this is really disturbing, this whole concentration of media. it will be in the hands of fewer and fewer companies. it is something i warned about in 2010 when we had the comcast nbc universal deal before us. i opposed that as well. and i said, this is what is going to happen. this is all unfolding in a very disturbing way. >> do you think your colleagues in the senate are afraid to take these mergers on? these are the media entities that cover them.

consumer,t affect the if at&t mergers with directv, time warner merges with comcast? >> it has a bad effect on consumers. consumers, as we have seen this concentration in media, have a portrait. this past year, the cost to consumers has tripled, the rate of inflation more than double -- at the rate of inflation. investors thats they will leverage their position to make more money and they have not said that this will increase the rate that consumers are paying for their services. so this is not good for consumers. , i think colleagues there is a lot of skepticism about both of these deals. we know more about exactly what

comcast, time warner is, we had a hearing, we heard a lot of skepticism. i am the only one that has come the comcast time warner acquisition. i want to look more at what at&t is, i am skeptical, i want to look at it a lot more. rogers, the house intelligence committee chair, says he is leaving the house to become a radio talkshow host. you were a radio talkshow host and you wrote for saturday night live. what has this transition been like for you going to the senate , and what advice would you give to intelligence chair mike rogers? say, listen to my show. and try to do that. [laughter]

it know, to have fun with and do the best job that he can, and good luck. i think we are pretty different, how we see things, but or me, this has been a great transition , a job where i can get things done. sometimes it is frustrating but very satisfying when you have wins. sometimes they are bigger than others. ,eople ask me some version of is being a senator as much fun as working on saturday night live? no, but this is the best job i have ever had. clearly, the strongest position fighting for net neutrality in the senate right now in opposing these media deals. .t has given me a better view

comcast, nbc universal, that acquisition, i had some insight into that, some of the history, ,uthorities given to networks financial syndication rules 1990, howged in 1989, that led to independent , their production being diminished. sometimes the networks do not say, or the owners of the network do not say that they will do what they will do. they will act in their own interest. it gave me a better perspective, i think, than other people on the committee. i am on judiciary. antitrust.we look at amy klobuchar is the chair of the antitrust subcommittee. she is a former prosecutor, very good, very knowledgeable lawyer.

butnot an attorney, lawyer, this experience in this business has helped me. to the fcc's new rules, they are not set in stone. we have a common period for four months. how important will it be for citizens to speak of in these coming days? >> very important. chairman wheeler reacted to the pushback from the leak of his .olemic very proposal i think it is very important that we use skeptics and ruling,s of this express themselves, use this comment period, it is very important. u.s. was the one that developed the internet, it scores ofbelow

countries for internet speed and access. the world economic forum ranked u.s. 35th out of 140 countries in internet and with. other studies rank it from 14th to 31st in average connection speed. why are we so slow in the u.s.? is we did not categorize it as telecommunications. that would've helped. minnesota, we have a lot of rural areas that .re underserved actually, in the last budget process, i teamed with jenna fischer, republican from nebraska, to spur more investment in rural broadband. this is something we need to do to keep economically competitive . this is the kind of infrastructure that, when you look at built austerity,, you look at education, research and development, and infrastructure. this is the electrification of

the 21st-century. >> thank you for being with us, senator franken. congressionalding voices to challenge corporate consolidation in media. democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, the largest settlement with a bang. yet, its chairman says that credit squeeze is still white as snow. [♪]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. a correction, credit squeeze is

the largest bank to plead guilty to a criminal charge. i'm amy goodman. >> european banking giant credit suisse has the guilty to helping american clients avoid taxes by concealing assets in illegal undeclared bank accounts. they become the largest to plead guilty to a criminal charge in 20 years. attorney general eric holder announced the plea on monday. of our yearsrse long investigation the department discovered credit suisse and it's subsidiaries engaged in an extensive and wide-ranging conspiracy to help u.s. taxpayers avoid taxes. the bank actively help its account holders to deceive the irs by concealing assets and income in the legal, undeclared bank accounts. the secret offshore accounts were held in the names of sham entities and foundations. this conspiracy spanned decades. the deal, credit

suisse will pay $2.6 billion in penalties and hire an independent monitor, but the bank will not be required to tune the names of the americans who used the bank to evade taxes. deal, no executives will face jail time an event will be allowed to continue operating in the u.s. according to the new york times, the security and exchange commission voted to grant credit suisse a temporary exemption from a federal law that requires a bank to hand over its investment advisor license in the event of a guilty plea. to talk more about the case, we are joined by james henry, former economist at mckinsey and company, now working at the tax justice center. welcome. can you assess this settlement? >> it is a big missed opportunity. this investigation has been going on for or years -- four years. one of several swiss banks under investigation.

the reason this was stock market , in particular, credit suisse, is soaring this morning, is because they are delighted with this deal, they are yodeling through the out on the light .ouch eric holder has a tradition of this. in 2000, he was the assistant attorney general who signed off on the marc rich pardon. >> marc rich was? >> a major swiss-based trader who was violating u.s. regulations and evading taxes. >> he was the man that president clinton pardoned. >> enormous backlash for that. in this case we have the second largest swiss bank with 45,000 employees, 1.20 6 trillion swiss client assets under

management, essentially getting away with a fine that amounts to three months of their net earnings. no senior executives are going to jail, as you mentioned. bradley dugan, the ceo, is expected to stay on. he said in front of his shareholders this week that this would have very slight impact on credit suisse's performance. i think we missed the opportunity to send a message. the way they structured this out anygain was to rule impact on credit suisse's license to operate in the u.s. option theynly would have had. beng forward, thanks will looking for new ways, new, inventive ways to serve americans. >> in terms of withholding the names of the clients, the argument from credit suisse is that swiss law prevents them

from doing that, protect their privacy. does that stand, here in the u.s., and how big of a when was that for them, that they can't keep the names? -- got to keep the names? >> this is part of a negotiation. the justice department says, no deal. you want your license, give us information on these americans. >> i would like to go to a brief clip on the senate meeting where carl levin question the credit suisse ceo bradley dugan about the u.s. citizens who were evading taxes. inwe are interested collecting taxes that were owed, that have been evaded, and we need the cooperation of the banks in order to do that. if the banks do not cooperate, citing swiss secrecy laws, then we simply has to use our own domestic laws to force cooperation with the banks.

andcite swiss secrecy laws, i gather, i think you said, mr. dugan, that you do not agree with those laws. >> our position is clear. we are ready to provide any information that we can legally provide. as you pointed out, the issue that we have is we have two different legal jurisdictions and therefore, for us to break the law in one jurisdiction in order to provide that information is difficult for us to do. from our point of view, we cannot necessarily influence these discussions between governments and how they proceed . we are ready to provide any information that we can provide legally. >> that was the credit suisse ceo brady dugan testified before the senate. does the administration have a reason for not wanting these names released as well? that is hard to say.

i have talked to people in the administration -- >> various administrations, right? ies.his cuts across the part have been very soft on punishing corporate crime in general with respect to banks. wall street banks have been serial violators. talkingcase, we are about a bank that has been doing this kind of activity for decades. dougan has been at the bank for 25 years. throughout that period, they have been operating this kind of money laundering for wealthy tax invaders. >> what was the crime that they committed? >> for example, they had a department that setup, wealthy americans i came to the geneva airport had a special office, something like 10,000 clients of this bank went through that bring ind were able to

their transactions, check on their accounts in privacy. .here was no name on the door they would send bankers el, a bigr to art bas miami convention. >> swiss bankers would come in on tourist visas. >> and they would be recruiting wealthy americans to take their money to switzerland, put it there essentially tax-free, no reported to the irs. wealthy americans who could play that game, it was worth quite a bit. of course, for the rest of us, who do not have the option of going to switzerland, will never need a swiss baker -- banker. this is just another case of where we are transferring tax burdens to the poor and middle class who do not have another

choice but to pay up. basic question about the rule of law here, about justice being or sale. you mentioned the obama administration. eric holder used to be an , handling ubsfirm as a client. the chief irs legal counsel, mr. wilkins, used to be a registered representative for the swiss banking association in washington when he was a partner at wilmer hale. you have the u.s. treasury secretary who was in charge of citibank's global private banking department in 2006. one ofministration -- the key golfing partners of the president, robert wolf, used to run ubs america, a big fundraiser for obama in 2008. so this administration is permeated with people who are

sympathetic to wall street and swiss interests as well. holder wasioned eric the architect of a strategy, forcing banks into guilty pleas, should be done in a way to not harm the economy. he used his weekly message this month to clarify the department of justice's position on prosecuting financial fraud. >> there is no such thing as too big to jail. some have used that phrase to describe certain financial institutions, even if they engage in criminal misconduct, should be considered immune from prosecution, due to their sheer size and influence on the economy. that view is mistaken and it is a view that has been rejected by the department of justice. to be clear, no individual or company, no matter how large or profitable, is above the law. >> testified before the senate

judiciary committee of the euro, he suggested some banks are too big to jail. do you agree with his denial now? >> there is nothing in the settlement that shows anyone will go to jail at the senior level. the chairman of credit suisse today said that they were white as snow and that both he and dougan would remain on. that is just rhetoric. majoroblem is, we have media basically playing this up as a settlement for criminal prosecution. the bbc yesterday said that this was the end of bank secrecy in switzerland. ludicrous. if you look alone the covers, this is a big missed opportunity here in we are not going to have this kind of opportunity again very soon. tois it a crime for somebody secret away their finances in a swiss bank? >> if you are a u.s. citizen,

you have to report your worldwide income to the treasury and the state tax authorities. >> what happened to those names that were released by ubs, wealthy americans who were hiding their money away in swiss bank accounts, and what should happen? >> there have been a lot of private settlement with those folks. the irs went after quite a few of them. one of the whistleblowers in got a large settlement as a reward for his activity. one of the issues here is that, with credit suisse, we did not have whistleblowers. the justice department has failed to produce or take advantage of swiss whistleblowers who were available to them. so we do not have any names from whistleblowers like we had in the ubs case. in this case, they are invoking swiss secrecy. allow no credit suisse

executives will be going to jail , a facilitating tax evasion new york city judge has sentenced a new york city protester to three months in jail and five years probation. she was arrested as protesters reacted into connie part. she was accused of deliberately striking an officer with her elbow. she says she instinctively swung her arm after being grabbed on the breast from behind. her case sparked a national outcry and pleas for leniency. even the majority of the jurors who found her initially guilty. many said it should have been about the police assaulting her. >> supporters of mcmillan spoke outside the courthouse. speakers included lucy parkes, and her surrogate model -- mother. first, her lawyer. >> history will say there was over policing of the occupy wall

street movement and essentially, object ofecame an prosecution. i do not see any reason why she would be prosecuted for a felony except to send the message out that says do not get involved in protests, do not get involved in demonstrations. otherwise we will severely do with you if we have a reason to do so. the fact that 90% of all the occupy arrests were dismissed tells me that the police department made such that arrests that not even the das office could go forward and prosecute. you have done this a long time. how does this case differ? to assault alony police officer. there are half a dozen other charges that were brought for people from occupy that are accused of assaulting a police officer, but they were dropped,

lowered. acp's.were given >> will there be an appeal? weit was filed this morning, would try to get a new trial and remove the stay of felony from cecily's record. mcmillan wasily sentenced to 90 days in prison after being sexually harassed by a police officer. did notnow that cecily receive a fair trial and that this court -- case will be fought in the court of appeals. this has elicited an array of deep responses from a broad array of individuals and communities and has greeted a moment to think about what solidarity means. for many of us who consider ourselves to be a part of the occupy movement, there is first and foremost, a deep sadness for a member of our community who

has endured a and a meeting physical and sexual assault and now has had her freedom taken away. her mother has a few words she wants to say to us. >> my child has never been a martyr. when she is is hope. what she is is a testament to the generations that you can speak out and that your voice is not in vain. she has been vocal ever since she came out of the womb. she really has. without you guys and without your support, this trial, this case, what has happened here, would not have gone so far or reached so wide. we want to thank you for your support. >> cecily mcmillan was sentenced to 90 days in jail. to talk more about the case, lawyer,nry is with us, economist, senior advisor to the tax justice network. also with this is ryan devereaux.

he also cover the occupy movement and was there the night that cecily was arrested. first, james, this contrast of , the settlement that was reached, and who goes to jail with occupy protesting. >> this is one of such many contrasts. the obama administration to me is a mystery. they go after whistleblowers like no one has ever done before. they go after aaron swartz, a , who ultimately committed suicide. hard for me, especially when i look at the history of the behavior of the financial institutions, the lack of integrity across the board, not only credit suisse, but the top 22 banks have been involved, as credit suisse was, libor rigg

mortgageency rigging, collapse, money laundering, rampant cases across the board. and they are basically getting away with murder here. this is the disparity in sentencing. it is like they get time off for bad behavior. >> ryan, you were there that cecily was arrested. set the scene for us, what was the protest like? six months after the initial occupation, it was a celebratory mood. occupiers had strung up some tents across the park with some wire, the police did not like this. they moved in, there was a call to disperse 150 or so. they had gathered in the middle of the park and the police came in row after row. as amy said, i covered occupy basically every day, and that

night stands out to me as probably the most violent night that i witnessed, including the initial evacuation of the park. nypd,lice department, the they came in, and i literally saw protesters dragged by their hair, heard people screaming in pain. it was an extremely violent night. innded up seeing cecily handcuffs near the front of the park by the bus where they reloaded for people they were arresting. for lack of better words, flopping around on the sidewalk. was truly disturbing as people screamed for medical attention. >> she said she had a seizure. your thoughts on this, what we can take away from the night? >> it would be unfortunate if the only thing that people remember about that night is this one incident and this one conviction because that night was emblematic of the way the nypd treated this movement,

foresters, and journalist months on end. it was excessively violent. >> we will leave it there. we will stay with you, ryan, because you have a remarkable piece about the nsa recording phone calls in the bahamas. james henry, thanks for being with us. now!is democracy back in a moment. [♪]

>> this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nationalreport reveals security agency is recording every single phone call made in the bahamas, even though the u.s. has said the caribbean nation poses little to no threat to americans. the story is based on documents linked by eric snowden who describes a classified program put in place by the nsa without the knowledge or consent of the bahamian government. instead, the report shows the website obtained access to the restaurant enforcement administration, and one document says the over personal recording calls in the bahamas is for legitimate commercial service. but the same document as our covert mission is the provision of signal intelligence. >> documents show the system is part of a broader program known as mystic what also monitors telephone communications in mexico, the philippines, kenya, as well as one of the country which they are not naming.

for more, we are joined by the story's author, ryan devereaux. his new story with glenn greenwald and laura poitras is "data pirates of the caribbean." talk about your findings. summarize them step-by-step. >> our story details the nsa program called mystic, first detailed in a washington post story. it was developed by the nsa in 2009. it is variously sponsored through a number of subprograms which are controlled by the nsa's commercial solution center, which works with their secret partners. the nsa would not be able to function without their corporate partners that they rely on to gain access to communications networks. it is also cosponsored by the cia and the drug enforcement administration. as you mentioned, this program

has gained access in mexico, kenya, the philippines, bahamas, and one of the country that the intercept is not naming at this time. >> is the government telling you not to name them? >> this is a conversation that we had four weeks as we have reported the story, trying to determine whether or not it was responsible to name the country. the nsa and government did not want us to name any of the countries. we named four of them. with this final country, we came to the conclusion that naming it would very likely increase risk for people on the ground. as you know, this is one of those decisions that, as a journalist covering national security stories, was difficult to make. we did not take it lightly. but when it comes to the potential for people being killed, we take that seriously. unfortunately, that is as much as i can say. we did, however, name a number of other countries that the

government does not want us to name, including the bahamas. it is important to understand the difference between the programs. mystic is the commercial center program that provides legitimate commercial services to foreign governments while collecting covertly on the side and in the background signals intelligence on those countries. thisis countries -- targets the mobile communications of these countries. is sneak in does there through its commercial provider and pullout signals intelligence. the second program, which is active in the bahamas, is even more robust. attacks the mobile communications network and sucks up the actual content of calls on the line. in the bahamas, the nsa is able to pick up every single phone call on the mobile communications network and essentially house those calls for up to 30 days, allowing u.s.

analyst to go back and retrieve the communications of people who they were targeting. the idea is that they could listen in on conversations that they were not looking for in the first place. where case of the bahamas the most realistic reason why the nsa might have an interest in things going on in the bahamas is drug issues, smuggling issues. >> also a key tax haven. >> it is, but these documents do not lay out any interest from the nsa on taking the money launderers, and although they could be interested in that, this specific program, according to the documents, targets drug traffickers and human traffickers, it does not target the major financial institutions and banks that underpin the black market for drug trafficking and human trafficking. it is about revealing specific traffickers. the documents talk about uncovering a plot to shift

nearly 90 pounds of marijuana into the u.s. this is not about taking down the powerbrokers in the drug trade. what the nsa has been able to do here in the bahamas is collect everything that is there, be able to resurrect conversations at will, and they're using this as a test bed -- that was the phrase that they use in the documents. the bahamas is being used as a test and for implementation of the systems elsewhere. >> it is not the case that they are going after someone in the bahamas. it could be a test run for their operations worldwide. you expose this trojan horse where the dda asked the bahamas for -- and dda as the bahamas for a wiretap. toy then hand over access bahamian telecommunications to the nsa who then tapped the entire country. is that legal, and could that jeopardize the legitimate law enforcement actions that are in

place with the dea? >> this is one of the most important elements of the story for people to understand. isthe legal issue, the nsa operating in a pretty gray area. the bahamas has been working in the last several years to sort of established statutes around communication intercepts emma but it is all in the works. a lot of countries around the world have existing standards regarding the interception of communications. that is not to say that this is legal under bahamian law. it does not seem to be. it seems to be illegal. but still, the bahamas is a bit behind some other countries in terms of rigorous standards. with respect to u.s. law, under , which therder 12333 nsa and cia uses to conduct

surveillance abroad, there is a lot that analysts and agents can do. this could very well, under executive order, be illegal for the nsa to be doing. the more important question about what this means for u.s. cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies and the dea's operations abroad, this essential. intercept, lawful the very thing that allows the nsa access to these networks, is premised on the idea that you have a specific person that you are targeting who is under suspicion of criminal activity. a judge signs a warrant. this is judicially approved and you go after one person. you do not have an entire country in the hopes of finding something interesting. >> the role of private contractors? >> that is essential. the nsa would not be able to do what it does without the help of the private sector and that is exactly how they got in the bahamas and other countries around the world.

>> what most surprised you? >> the bahamas, it is a carnival cruise destination, not a terrorist hotbed. >> thanks for being with us, ryan devereaux. his new story with glenn greenwald and laura poitras is "data pirates of the caribbean." we will link to the intercept at democracynow.org. as we end the show, remembering vincent harding, who died on monday at the age of 82. he was a friend and speechwriter for dr. martin luther king and wrote the draft for the famous antiwar address beyond vietnam. speaking in 2008, he talked about the speech. >> there was a great deal of struggle within the community .round martin about the speech even more about the speech, about what position king should

take in relationship to what our country was doing in vietnam and what our country seemed intending to do all over the .orld but it is important to recognize that came saw these issues, not simply as what we call foreign-policy issues. pastor. most deeply a king saul these issues in terms of what they were doing to the poorest, weakest, most vulnerable people in this country, as well as what they were doing to the poor of other countries, particularly, in this case, vietnam. asg did not see himself separating his attention from this country and turning it

overseas. king saw the natural connection between what was happening to , why young the usa men and women were rising up in anger, frustration, desperation, saw that action as deeply related to the attention that the country was paying to the devastation it was doing in vietnam. and so, king was actually trying to bring the country together two cents the relationship between its sickness at home to the sickness of its policy overseas. harding, the historian, author, professor, and civil rights activist died monday at the age of 82 in colorado. he was a friend in speech writer for dr. martin luther king and

he wrote the draft for the famous antiwar address that he gave at riverside church april 4, 1967. alsont harding was professor emeritus of religious